oar

n [ AS. ār; akin to Icel. ār, Dan. aare, Sw. åra; perh. akin to E. row, v. Cf. Rowlock. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. An implement for impelling a boat, being a slender piece of timber, usually ash or spruce, with a grip or handle at one end and a broad blade at the other. The part which rests in the rowlock is called the loom. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ An oar is a kind of long paddle, which swings about a kind of fulcrum, called a rowlock, fixed to the side of the boat. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. An oarsman; a rower; as, he is a good oar. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Zool.) An oarlike swimming organ of various invertebrates. [ 1913 Webster ]

Oar cock (Zool.), the water rail. [ Prov. Eng. ] --
Spoon oar, an oar having the blade so curved as to afford a better hold upon the water in rowing. --
To boat the oars, to cease rowing, and lay the oars in the boat. --
To feather the oars. See under Feather., v. t. --
To lie on the oars, to cease pulling, raising the oars out of water, but not boating them; to cease from work of any kind; to be idle; to rest. --
To muffle the oars, to put something round that part which rests in the rowlock, to prevent noise in rowing. --
To put in one's oar, to give aid or advice; -- commonly used of a person who obtrudes aid or counsel not invited. --
To ship the oars, to place them in the rowlocks. --
To toss the oars, To peak the oars, to lift them from the rowlocks and hold them perpendicularly, the handle resting on the bottom of the boat. --
To trail oars, to allow them to trail in the water alongside of the boat. --
To unship the oars, to take them out of the rowlocks. [ 1913 Webster ]